Since the first edition of 'Networking spatial information systems' was published in 1992 further significant advances and events have occurred to suggest that the forecasts offered in Chapter 11 concerning the future of broadband networking are likely to be realised. The agents of change which are operating to usher in the Network Era can be grouped into three major classes, and constitute the focus of this postscript chapter: the emergence of new public policy initiatives related to building national information infrastructures and related services; accelerating technological change and the convergence of computing, communications, information and entertainment systems; and the development of new forms of economic organisation which embody networking as a central mode of operation.